We are gonna look at why the Konark Sun Temple was really built and by the end of this post, you can decide if it is a Hindu temple at all. I recommend watching the video below as it includes much more visuals than the pictures in this post.

Imagine that you are child who is only 5 years old and your parents have taken you to the Konark Sun Temple. This is what you would see in this temple.

At the lowest level of the temple, you will see what children are naturally interested in: Animals. There are exquisite carvings of various animals and their behaviors. For example, you see how baby elephants hang around their mothers. How monkeys behave. Some are even funny, like today’s cartoon network. You can see how human beings use tamed elephants to capture a wild elephant. This was ancient India’s animal planet. But this temple doesn’t stop there, I am gonna show you how Konark temple was built as an encyclopedia, as a University which teaches various subjects for all age groups.

I have realized that you can divide this temple into many different subjects according to its height.
The first 2 feet are carved for small children below 5 years, and when you reach the ages between 6 to 10, you are going to see things like dancing, singing and playing musical instruments.

The temple holds an enormous amount of carvings about music and dancing. This is odyssey, the traditional dance of the region. There are 128 postures of traditional Indian dance, carved in this temple. If you are tough kid, you can also see martial arts like boxing and wrestling.

Of course, life would be no fun without games. So you can learn games like the tug of war as well. See the sculpture below.

The third level, fit for ages between 11 and 15 has enormous scientific information, specifically astronomy. There is a wheel which is a sundial that can tell the accurate time, precisely down to a minute! I have explained about this sundial in a separate video. The temple, dedicated to the Sun God Surya is a giant symbolic representation of how the Sun works. The temple is shaped as a chariot with 24 wheels representing 24 hours of the day, featuring 3 sun gods – the morning sun with a happy face, the somber noon sun and the evening sun with a sad face. But all experts and commoners have missed something very important.

What are these weird animals carved on either side of the chariot? They are horses in an extremely disintegrated state, they were disfigured by foreign invaders. There are a total of 7 horses which pull the chariot of the sun.

Now, Why is the chariot being pulled by 7 horses? Some say, just like the 24 wheels represent 24 hours of the day, the 7 horses represent 7 days of the week. But this is not true. Astronomers agree that the 7 days of the week are not connected to the Sun at all, and some civilizations even had 8 day weeks, because it is not relevant to the movement of the sun and the earth. So, why is the chariot of the Sun god being pulled by 7 horses?
If you talk to the elderly people in this area, they reveal some intriguing information. They say that each of the 7 horses was painted with a different color of the rainbow.

Now, we know that Isaac Newton discovered that sun light is not white, but made of 7 different colors. This was a startling discovery back then, and even now it is hard to accept that sunlight is actually made of 7 different colors. Newton discovered this in 1600s, but this temple was built nearly 400 years before Newton, so how did the ancient builders know that the Sun light was actually made of different colors? More importantly, why aren’t historians recording this in their books? Anyway, now you know why the Sun God’s chariot is being pulled by 7 different horses.
In the next level, which belongs to age groups from 16 - 20, You can also learn a lot about politics, war and administration.

We can see how kings were dealing with commoners in a court. You can also see how executions were done, here a man is being crushed by an elephant.

Here you can see people carrying a Palanquin, safely transporting the queen.

You can learn about international connections. In this sculpture, you can see a group of Africans with a Giraffe, meeting the Indian King. This carving is still baffling historians, because they claim that Africa never had a flourishing civilization. You can see Greeks and Chinese as well in this temple. Of course you can learn other softer occupations like Fashion technology - I have shown already shown you high heels, skirts, hairdos, in a different video.

Here, I must point out that Hinduism is a very superstitious religion. All over India, couples who are not able to have children visit their local priests, and the priests advise them to visit Konark Temple and spend 21 days here. The ritual requires that the couples walk around the temple in the morning and the evening, every day. Of course, the real reason becomes obvious once you look at the carvings at the next level.

Konark temple probably has more erotic sculptures than any other temple in India. There is no way, you are not going to be influenced by these sculptures which number in the thousands. We think the system of sex education was created in western countries, but historians and archeologists are not telling us that India had a very systematic approach in educating people about sex. And this is not just limited to postures by the way: what does this carving show?

A woman is standing on a flame, right after childbirth to prevent infections. Believe it or not, the tribe called Bonda who live in the region, still follow this routine. The women burn neem wood and stand on it, right after childbirth. These moms actually start working right after the delivery, like it is nothing.
The last layer which belongs to the age group 25 and above has sculptures of various Gods, which was serious business.

It is for very mature people who are ready to delve into the subject of the gods. You would only look up, if you were not distracted by the erotic sculptures. There are also sublevels of how to look at these gods, but that’s another video.
Now, what we see today is just the outside of the temple. The main structure has been completely destroyed and what we see here is not the main structure, but a smaller structure built in front of the main structure. Even this one has been completely sealed off, so we can’t see what’s inside.

If this the amount of knowledge we can gain from outside the temple, Imagine what could have been inside the temple? It is a shame that we have let this destruction happen because we would have had access to some of the biggest secrets of ancient India.
If you visit a modern Hindu temple built today, these places are all about faith and business. Every God is placed strategically for the visitor's convenience and nearby every idol is a donation box hoping that these visitors will put in some money. If you look at temples older than 500 years, there is a huge difference. Temples like Konark were not just built for faith, but were built as an encyclopedia, a museum, or a University to educate people.

This is why Konark should not be labeled merely as a Hindu temple, because people of any faith can gain enormous amount of knowledge by visiting here. Even if you are an atheist, the amount of information you can see in this temple, surpasses any other museum in the world.
So, what do you think? Was Konark Temple built merely to spread faith, or was it built as an encyclopedia in 3D, to educate us? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

16
comments:

Thank You , it's really interesting !! I think destroyed parts( main building) can use this second building as sunlight prism for make rainbow light visible at the front of second building in some parts of day .. for example and maybe at top of second building exist quartz crystal for do it or something other light diffraction device...﻿

Praveen Mohan, must say that you really take a lot of effort to educate us. And at the same time express your opinion. You are a true lover of history and our country needs curious minds like yours. I hope someday we realise who we are and a govt allocates huge funds to preserve our past.I might have a different view but I throughly enjoyed your view point. Keep rocking and keep sharingThank you

It's built by Indian Hindu king with poor intelligent,may be travelled far and wide after end of Chandragupt maurya era many years after that Konark Temple built. He built Hindu Temple dedicated to sun but ancient Temple architectural skill is Zero.

few people can exlain this way as u did with perfect words . never knew that konark's main doors r still blocked and then we say we r living in free india . indian govt. never took any action to reopen the doors ? thanks to u again for explaining all the levels of konark temple very wisely ..

What a Moron the writer is? The concepts tried to mentioned are immatured and half baked.

Ancient Indians knew very well about the seven colors. The Author clearly didnt read the Ancient hymns on Sun ( Surya) which talks about 7 rathas) .... Dear Author, you are Moron of first standard , dont try to brain wash humans on earth.

Yes I agree with you .title is misleading .Sun god is still worshipped by expectant mothers with a hope for a son .hence the sex scenes depiction .the kings needed an heir .The practice of dhooni with neem wood or giving fumes to the vagina after childbirth is still prevalent where deliveries take place at home .the patient is placed on a string bed and the relevant parts are exposed to a small fire in a wok .it's all very scientific .

In our modern time it must be possible to make a detailed dokumentation about the inside before closeing?!Becourse is nobody interested to analysed and secured all the fragments all around the temple?Before the arrival of the park, archaeological examination of the arial were carried out?